Monday, November 08, 2004

The hidden hand stays hidden

Compare and contrast the treatment of Christopher Booker's story in The Sunday Telegraph on the new electrical rules for domestic dwellings, and The Daily Telegraph's treatment of the same story in today’s business section, this one written by Richard Tyler

Apart from the more sober headline, though, the interesting thing about Tyler’s version is that, unlike Booker, nowhere does he mention that these rules are EU based. Instead, he treats the issue as a domestic story, leaving the reader under the impression that the British government is responsible.

One can never be sure whether omissions like this reflect the amateurism of the journalists involved, or whether more sinister forces are at play. Either way, the net effect is that the hidden hand of the EU stays hidden and the people are thus less informed than they have a right to be.